1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly to a method of fabricating an improved spacer such as a Phoslon (PNO) spacer.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, in accordance with advances in semiconductor process techniques, the level of integration of integrated circuits increases and the channel lengths of MOS devices become shorter so that the operation speed of MOS devices may increase correspondingly. However, certain problems arise, for example short channel effects or hot electron effects, when the channel lengths of MOS devices shrink to a level.
FIG. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram showing a shifting of channel length between the source region and the drain region of a conventional MOS device, resulting from the short channel effect. As shown in FIG. 1, during operation of the MOS device, the source region 10 and the drain region 12 result in the depletion regions 14 and 16 respectively. The depletion regions 14 and 16 overlap part of the channel region 18. The channel length of the MOS device changes from the longer original channel length L to the shorter effective channel length L', as shown in FIG. 1. As the ratio of the overlapped region (the depletion regions 14 and 16 overlap the channel region 18) to the channel region 18 becomes larger, the effective channel length of the channel region 18 becomes shorter. If the channel length of the channel region 18 is less than approximately 1.5 .mu.m, the channel region 18 will be electrically short and the MOS device will be always in the "ON" state. Therefore, the gate 20 of the MOS device can no longer control the MOS device.
FIG. 2 is a schematic, cross-sectional view showing electron and hole currents in a conventional MOS device resulting from the hot electron effect. The electric field (electric field=electric voltage/length) in the channel region 22 increases as the channel length of the channel region 22 shortens. As shown in FIG. 2, the electrons of the region 23, which is between the channel region 22 and the drain 24, have high energy because of the large electric field. The large electric field in the channel region 22 can accelerate the electrons of the region 23. The electrons generated from the region 23 impact the electrons near the boundary of the drain 24 to generate lots of electron-hole pairs. Therefore, the carriers (including electrons and holes) increase to result in carrier multiplication. The electrons generating from carrier multiplication, such as electron 26, are attracted to the drain 24 to increase the current of drain 24. The other the electrons also generated from carrier multiplication, such as electron 27, are injected into the gate oxide 30. The holes generating from the carrier multiplication, such as hole 28, enter the substrate 31 to generate substrate current. The other part of the holes generated from the carrier multiplication, such as hole 29, are attracted to the source 32 to add to the number of hot electrons. An increase in hot electrons results in carrier multiplication and leads to the electrical breakdown of the MOS device.
To solve the above problems, such as short channel effects or hot electron effects, a conventional lightly doped drain (LDD) structure is provided.
FIGS. 3A-3D are schematic, cross-sectional diagrams showing a sequential process of fabricating a conventional LDD structure. As shown in FIG. 3A, a polycide metal gate 34 includes polysilicon 35 and tungsten silicide 37. The field oxide layers 33 are formed beside the gate 34. The first light implanting is performed on the substrate using the gate 34 as a mask to form an N.sup.- region.
As shown in FIG. 3B, a layer 36 of silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2) or silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) is formed on the gate 34 and the substrate. As shown in FIG. 3C, an anisotropic etching step is performed on the layer 36 to form spacers 38 on the sidewalls of the gate 34. As shown in FIG. 3D, the second heavy implanting is performed on the substrate using the gate 34 and the spacer 38 as masks to form an N.sup.+ region 40. The N.sup.- region and the N.sup.+ region 40 are combined to form LDD source/drain regions.
The drawbacks of the spacer 38 of silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2) or silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) are described as follows in two conventional processes.
FIGS. 4A-4D are schematic, sequential cross-sectional diagrams showing a self-aligned silicide (Salicide) process. As shown in FIG. 4A, a gate 42 and a spacer 44 are provided. As shown in FIG. 4B, a Ti layer 46 that is about 100-200 .ANG. thick is formed over the wafer by magnetron DC sputtering. An annealing step is performed on the Ti layer 46 to let Ti react with silicon on the surface of the gate 42 and source/drain regions to form TiSi.sub.2 layer 48, as shown in FIG. 4C. A wet etching step is performed to remove the remaining Ti layer 46 to expose the TiSi.sub.2 layer 48, as shown in FIG. 4D. During the annealing step, the TiSi.sub.2 layer 48 sometimes forms on the spacer 44, because the spacer 44 of silicon oxide or silicon nitride also contains silicon. The TiSi.sub.2 layer 48 formed on the spacer 44 can be an electrical bridge between the gate 42 and source/drain regions. Therefore, the spacer 44 cannot isolate the gate 42 and source/drain regions resulting in the MOS device's failure and a decrease in the MOS device fabrication yield.
FIGS. 5A-5B are schematic, sequential cross-sectional diagrams showing a self-aligned contact etching process. As shown in FIG. 5A, a gate 52, a spacer 54 and an LDD source/drain region 56 are provided. As shown in FIG. 5B, a dielectric layer 58 is deposited over the whole wafer. The material of the dielectric layer 58 is silicon oxide. An etching step and a depositing step are performed on the dielectric layer 58 to form a contact 60 to electrically connect one of the LDD source/drain regions 56. During the process of etching the dielectric layer 58, part of the spacer 54 is removed by etching. The erosion of the spacer 54 is especially serious for the silicon oxide spacer 54. Therefore, the gate 52 and the contact 60 are short because of the erosion of the spacer 54 and results in the MOS device's failure.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to provide a method of fabrication an improved spacer structure.